MacBook, Mac Mini Supplies Run Thin for Third-Party Retailers, Refresh Could Be Around the Corner

AppleInsider is pointing out that supplies of Apple’s MacBook have become “severely constrained” for several third-party resellers. In fact, retailers such as Amazon and MacConnection are out of stock entirely. In addition Best Buy and Amazon UK are out of Mac Mini stock. Of course, this is usually a sign that a product refresh is right around the corner.

Apple’s online stores all around the world are reporting a “ships within 24 hours” timeframe for both the MacBook and Mac Mini. Again, this is a typical sign. Apple lowers shipments to third-party retailer, while keeping their own retail channels full until the refresh is released.

Even though we really haven’t heard much about either of these products in recent weeks, both are due for an update. The MacBook was last refreshed in May of 2010, the Mac Mini in June of 2010. To my mind, it wouldn’t unreasonable to think that Apple will wait until the launch of OS X Lion to release new MacBook and Mac Mini models, both of which will likely adopt Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPU architecture, and be equipped with the new Thunderbolt I/O.